Mithraic Mysteries and the Cult of Empire

[Liffrea]

The proud Roman general stood with his commanders and retinue as the wild hillsmen, dressed in the ragged but still-flamboyant clothes of corsairs, fell before him in turn, begging for clemency. It was about 75 B.C. in the rugged hills near Coracesium in Cilicia, an untamed region along the coast of southwestern Asia Minor, and the Cilician pirates, possibly the most successful race of brigands the world has ever seen, were surrendering to the Roman general Pompey.

Pompeius Magnus, as he was afterwards styled, would go on to conquer the Levant and to challenge Julius Caesar for supremacy over the fledgling Roman Empire, but his lightning-swift campaign against the Cilician pirates was perhaps his finest moment. The pirates, taking advantage of Roman naval weakness during a span of decades that saw Rome wracked by civil war, had controlled much of the Mediterranean, as far west as the Balearic Islands.* Now, thanks to Pompey’s masterful combination of resolute military action and unconditional clemency for all pirates who surrendered to him in person, the once-feared Cilicians were admitted to the Roman Empire and given the opportunity to live respectable lives. Most, according to Plutarch’s account of events, accepted Pompey’s offer. They were resettled in various parts of the Roman dominion, bringing their families and possessions with them. They also, according to Plutarch, brought with them a peculiar system of religious beliefs and practices, one of the so-called “mystery cults” typical of the pre-Christian Mediterranean.

The cult of the Mithras was doubtless regarded at first as just another Oriental import, a product of Mediterranean multi-culturalism. But it grew into the most formidable occult secret society in the ancient world, claiming emperors and legionaries alike in its membership. At the peak of its power and influence — when it held hostage the very machinery of empire — it threatened to fling the Roman world back to its pagan roots and to eradicate the young Christian faith.

http://www.thenewamerican.com/index....cult-of-empire

[Nodens]

Evangelicals 'explaining' that of which they have no understanding.

[Cato]

Evangelicals 'explaining' that of which they have no understanding.

The following statement is utterly ironic given which religion later took over "the very machinery of empire," culminating in such despots as Theodosius and Justinian.

At the peak of its power and influence — when it held hostage the very machinery of empire — it threatened to fling the Roman world back to its pagan roots and to eradicate the young Christian faith.

As far as I know, the Mithraic cult never sought to eradicate its Christian counterpart (Mithraism was actually a very tolerant religion, like all of the pagan cults, from what little can be told about it); the opposite is, however, the true face of reality, and this is why so little exists of Mithraism and why such sloppy articles like the one linked to above can be written.

[Odin]

[Div1]

I have a friend who is Mithraic (as in the military cult) and he has a lot of info on this stuff:

http://www.silversaffron.co.uk/mithr...nferencepaper/

https://books.google.ch/books?id=3DE...mithra&f=false

https://hellenicfaith.com/mithras/

According to the Rig Veda, Mitra was intended to be the protector of the gods. Eventually as it went progressively more west it evolved into Mithra.

[Leo Iscariot]

I was actually recently added to an FB group about Mithraism. It's rather interesting.

http://www.zartomithraism.uk/western/

[sean]

According to Plutarch, it was the Cilician pirates who first brought the rites to Italy when they embarked on raids against Roman ships in the first century BC. But the story isn't fully true, as Plutarch's purported timeline has the introduction of Mithras at the same time that archaeological finds suggest the cult had already taken root there.

The original Persian Mithras was a far cry from the one frequently depicted in European murals. A detail which separates Roman worship of Mithras from the Persian god is that he is often shown slaying a bull, which has led to a lot of confusion among archaeologists. By the time he was adopted by the Armenians, he became associated with the caves that would be integral to his later worship. According to their tradition, he confined himself to a cave and emerged only once a year in a symbolic rebirth.